Bandon Trails

Bandon Trails is the inland outlier at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw routed it in 2005 through coastal forest, open sand dunes, and meadow clearings, creating a round that moves through more distinct environments than any other course at the resort. It divides opinion in a way the coastal courses do not. Visitors who came to Bandon for ocean views often rank it last; visitors who walk it carefully often come away surprised.

You're playing 6,788 yards, par 71, slope 130. Moderate by Bandon standards. The opening holes play through tall coastal pines, with fairways carved from the forest floor and tree canopy overhead. Around the 5th, the routing emerges into open dune terrain and the character shifts entirely. Wind arrives. Views open up. Turf firms. By the middle of the round, the course has moved through three distinct landscapes and asked something different of you in each.

The 12th through the 14th are the strongest stretch, a sequence across open duneland with the ocean visible in the distance. The 12th plays from an elevated tee across a valley to a fairway that rises toward a well-defended green. The 13th sits in a natural amphitheater. The 14th curves through the dune ridges with the kind of gentle dogleg Coore and Crenshaw deploy better than nearly any team working today. Greens sit into the terrain rather than rising above it; several are partially hidden from the approach.